Notre Dame Talk: Year Three Expectations, Dominant Pass Rush, 2024 Class Rankings

In the latest IB show I discuss year three expectations for Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame's dominant pass rush and 2024 class rankings

Notre Dame enters year three of the Marcus Freeman tenure, which means we'll start to learn a lot about the Irish head coach. That is the primary topic in the latest Irish Breakdown show, but it's only the beginning. We also discuss Notre Dame's 2023 pass rush and I dive into my rankings for the 2024 commits on offense.

You can watch to the full show here, or you can listen to each segment in the podcast links below.

Part one of today's show focused on expectations for Notre Dame as the program enters year three of the Marcus Freeman tenure.

Notre Dame's legendary coaches have won titles in year three, but the other successful coaches made big jumps even if they didn't win it all. The other coaches showed their warts in year three, and their tenures didn't last much longer.

But why is year three so important? I explain why that is during the first segment, and explain why what we learn about Freeman in year three will go a long way towards telling us what kind of coach he'll be for the Irish.

Part two of today's show looks at the Notre Dame pass rush in 2023, how it stacks up against the other top teams in the country, and how it can get better.

Notre Dame didn't have great sack numbers in 2023, but overall the pass rush was outstanding. Notre Dame not only stacked up with other top programs (on a per snap basis), they primarily outshined the other top programs. I explain why pressures and disruptions are more important than just looking at sacks, and how the giant leap from a pressure standpoint played a huge role in the defense's success this season.

I also discuss how the interior pressure from Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III had such a major impact, how the DL makes the linebackers better, why Jordan Botelho is a key to success in 2024, and how the defense still needs to up its disruptive success against the run.

Part three dives into my 2024 class rankings for the Notre Dame offensive signees.

In this section I rank my offensive recruits from 1-11, talk about my upside rankings and then dive into each prospect. I discuss why I'm so high on CJ Carr, the overall impact of the offensive class, the impact wide receiver class that is led by Cam Williams and Micah Gilbert, and the talented offensive line class led by Guerby Lambert, among other notes.

Part four was the mailbag.

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2024 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2024 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2024 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

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